The Heat - Prologue - Seperated ways
by PandaBalourd
Summary: A fleeing teenage. A young dealer. A busynessman in his 30s. A rancher, a child and a poor young Puerto Rican. What those people have in common? Actually, the path their lives are walking in. (This is a prologue. You don't have to read it to appreciate the story, however if you want to know better the characters, well, this is for you!)
1. Alinea 1 - Aline

[**Attention** : Dialogue originally written in French for French-speaking characters will stay in their original language, unless they speak in english with english speaking persons. This is made for a better immersion into the story (plus it makes me write less atrocities in english, folks, cheers !*shot*)]

_Once again she threw her bag, not knowing where it was going to land. Various college stuff was there, lying on the ground and no one was even shocked about that. Who would notice that, anyway?_

_Not her dad, for sure, he was too busy cheating on her mother to care. Taking a deep breath (and loudly sighing from disapproval, in fact), Aline laid on her bed, somehow releasing a small space on it. She had enough, to be honest. Enough of this place, enough of this life. All of that wasn't what she knew earlier, when she was much younger, when she was more, much more innocent than now. This family life they had, her, her mom, her dad, her brother and sister ? _

_Whatever ! A__ll that was pure bullshit. __This house she lived in was so dead right now. Lacking both life form and sense. With her father gone to his so-called job and her mother not doing anything better, well ! You could say the kind, dear, good Aline was being spoiled. She had a wonderful life, for sure and, well, of course she wouldn't know what sacrasm is. Sarcasm is for people who have a harsh life, isn't it, so why would she, with her beautiful, marvelous life… Why would she know such a thing ? Actually most of her friends were thinking so. Oh, yeah and, of course, she didn't knew what an harsh life was because, you know, she had always some money in her pocket her dad would gladly give her, because she was rich, talented… and her dad ? He was awsome !_

_Thinking about all this parody of what her life really was, she moved back to the living room. She sat down there, watching a shut, quiet TV. Nothing would catch her attention anyway. Too much things were flipping her head off. Its seemed so heavy it would fall and crash right on the floor. She had enough. Enough, enough !_

-Marre ! Fait chier !

_She shouted to herself. Sometimes it helped her being, you know, kind of zen, calm, those kind of stuff. But today ? It was impossible._

-Okay, alors, okay, je vais lire un peu. Ça me calmera.

_Reading always had relaxed her a lot. Reading for too long, however, gave her the only desire to throw the book away and burn it. Especially if, just like today, nothing was gaining her attention. Nothing, until she saw an atlas. Truly bored, she tried to remember every name on this map. All those estates. Why would America had all those ? It would be easier to have less estates, less cities to dream of, less names to remember for a French student learning American geography. She was certainly still thinking of that when her dad came back home with his ''one-night stand assistant '', as she was now accustomed to call all those stupid, lame girls who felt everyday into his claws. Well, anyway, what was she doing with this book? Lost in her thoughts, she stood there, her finger pointing a random American city she couldn't remind the name of._

-Salut, fille, tranquille?

-En fait , ça serait sans doute mieux si tu ne ramenais pas ta pouffe ici.

-Hein ? Mais enfin, c'est mon assistante, ma puce…

-C'est ça. Et la baiser c'est dans ton contrat aussi ?

-Que… Aline, comment tu.. ?

-Papa… Franchement ? Je suis pas idiote…

-Tu… Surtout, ne dis rien à ta mère ! Je ne peux pas le nier mais, sois sympa, ne le dis à pas à Juliette !

_Juliette. Her mom, actually. Well, he didn't wanted her know ? Why not ? She was doing the same when he was out, why would he care ? Or was he thinking her wife wasn't cheating on him ? What a pity, he wasn't even caring enough of his wife he wasn't able to see she was having some fun with other men. This was truly ridiculous._

-Je te donne ce que tu veux ! Tu veux un poney ? Je te le donne ! Tu veux un chien, je te l'achètes ! Mais pitié, ma fille, ma petite Aline, mon petit lapin en sucre ! …Pitié, ta mère est trop…

-Vraiment ?

_Anything, huh ? He was able to buy her, give her anything ? Oh yeah but, of course she already had lots of things she didn 't care about. All she cared about now was to know how she would flee from her stupid, really boring, harsh and heavy life. Heavy… Something heavy was indeed in her hands. She even had a finger put on it. __Her gaze suddenly met this American city she couldn't put a name on. It was crystal clear now. Of course ! Why didn't she though of that earlier !_

-Alors achètes-moi un ticket d'avion.

-Mais… Ma chérie, on est plus en vacances …

-Non, je crois que tu m'as mal comprise. Je ne parle pas de vacances.

_She was suddenly serious, concentrated. Yes, she wanted to go, to flee there. It looked like the perfect city to go to, actually. A young, new city which was, just like all those « new cities » a dangerous one. As this though crossed her brain, her heart skipped a beat. She always had wanted to have an exciting life. She repeated many times the name of what would be her American dream, then glared at her father._

-Papa. Je veux un billet en aller simple pour Los Santos.

-Tu.. Mais ça va PAS ? T'es dingue ou quoi !

-Sinon, j'appelle maman.

-..Ok !Ok, ok ok ! Rah ! Ce qu'il faut pas faire pour ses gosses !

-Aller simple.

-C'est de la folie, ma grande.

-ALLER SIMPLE, jte dis !

_Looking down at his daughter, he opened his mouth, ready to object and then… He just closed it. What could he say to retain her ? Certainly nothing. They both knew she was an hot-head, unstoppable girl._

_Something was really wrong with her, since the beginning. Everyone in the family kept telling her but whatever ! She didn't care about those stupid assholes anymore : she was going to travel, to flee, to be free ! Anything else would now be pointless : her parents cheating on each over, her older sister, her little bro… Well, about them… She was going to miss them, honestly . They were her pride and joy, but her parents ? Just two pieces of crap dating each over._

_Her dad was already on the internet, looking for flight to this town… What's its name again ? Oh, yeah, Los Santos, when she finished her bag. A simple, not too heavy bag, with only her phone, her laptop (in fact, her laptop was, more or less, her entire life) and some clothes. No money, no pictures of their '' happy family'', nothing that would recall her about this life she was leaving._

-Tu sais, Aline, je pense vraiment que…

-Donne-moi ce ticket. Et fermes ta grande gueule !

-Non, mais vraiment, je pense que c'est d…

-Je viens pas de te dire de taire ? Si ! Alors _over,_ papa, donne-moi ce ticket et tu pourras niquer tranquille , pauvre con !

-De toute façon, j'ai pas le choix.

_He printed the said ticket – the little piece of paper freeing Aline from her former life – and gave her, anxiety slowly appearing on his face, much like it have been written down his cheeks as her daughter was starting to bounce out of excitement. Finaly taking her free pass to the real, true American dream, Aline stood there for a second, then slapped him. Actually, since all her rage was gone –remplaced by the hunger of discovering new, strange, great and unknown things- she wasn't able to hurt him in any way._

_She then slamed the door, warning her dad that following her would result in a call to his so-loved wife. Enventualy, he chose to save his ass, as always. That was fine with Aline. In fact nothing would take her down now : her life was at a turning, a great, good, incredible turning point._

_ Her phone rang one, two, three times. Vibrated for the rest of the travel, until she arrived at the airport. Was her dad worrying about her, really ? What was happening to him, was heu nable to bang his assistant correcly, was he for, like, the first time of his life caring about his second child ? No, that wouldn't be mister Marc Deraux, he wasn't of that lovey-dovey type of dad worrying for his children. He was more of the kind that, you know, doesn't give a shit about them. So why would he call then ?_

_« Anyway », said Aline to herself. « Whatever, I don't give a shit about him either ». She then presented her ticket, argued a litlle bit with the hostess and took place. She was leaving, she was free and everything was going to be fine. She almost claimed victory as the plane was leaving the ground, in fact she was already claiming, until she saw it._

_The flight her dad took her was to Alderney city._

-Va te faire foutre papa, sériousli !


	2. Alinea 2 - Jacksmann

_The road was fairly quiet. Not much traffic, nice lights…in short: Leeroy was even able to smoke some nice weed, enjoy the time passing slowly and become intoxicated in his little van. Listening to Bob Marley like any good rasta, he was resting from a hard day selling dope. He had this job since the past few weeks and was realizing how hard it was. Fleeing the cops, fleeing the robbers, even fleeing gangs sometimes.. He had the right to enjoy his little piece of heaven._

_The road was limpid today. Really. Everything was going well. No controls, he drove slowly, as it should. He turned up the volume. Everything worked._

_Well, he would have to say though he had sold off the last bags, but these Liberty City toxicos were great negotiators, it didn't help him in any way. But this kush ? It was royal, man. It had lots of flavours, including citrus followed by some exotic-wood-thing. Only the smell of it was not that good, because Leeroy had never loved those gasoline odours. That was one of the meanest smell in Earth, plus gazoline was somehow driving people crazy . All those persons fighting between each over, only to have some petrol, man, that was shit._

_Anyway. He was having a good, doping time with his royal kush. Sometimes he loved to imagine that those herbs were women you would have to love and trust with all your heart. He was so high now nothing would have stopped him . Not even those stupid beavers running right in front of him. Or was it some deers or some shit ? He was too stoned to know, actually. Those places he was passing threw were lost and empty as fuck, as always, if you forget about those beavers-deers-shit. Well, there was a great fauna, neverthless. Last time he saw a troup of foxes tap-dancing on the road, the previous time it has been some grizzlies yodeling, or was it yodel ? He didn't know anything about those European cultures._

_Suddenly his stomach growled. He was hungry, he was actually starving, he would have loved to have a bite to eat, but he already ate two hours ago at a restaurant. You know, those kind of restaurants, made for professional drivers, where all those men look like some fuckin' psycho. He wasn't part of those… kind of guys, was he ? No, no of course he wasn't. Sure, he killed a man the other day but, man, that was a terrible mistake, he was so fuckin' high he confounded him with a beaver ! Beavers are fuckin' douches._

-And they sayin '…

« Iron, like a lion, in Zion », r_esponded the radio. Sure, this was great music, like no one in the world. Relaxin' the shit out of him, actually, even making him forget about his hunger. About his problems too, which was truly a feat. Or was he thinkin' about 'em once again ? His girl, coming back to her former lover, his momma who was ill for now, his dad who was, ya know, never with them and never have been ? All these shitty stuff he was thinkig about right now was a real pain in his life, it was in fact hard to live with all this. For a man who was supposed to be in his best years, man, he talked and acted as a overly grown up dawg. Those times during the 20s were …about something like having fun all day and messing up with girls, right ?_

_And what about Leeroy, then ? What the fuck was he doing like this, playin' his life to have some cash in his pocket only to eat and live like a normal, boringly married person ? What the fuck, dude ?_

-Fuck off, man, this life is shit.

_It was right. But what else could he do ? Nothin', he wasn't able to keep a normal, legal job, anyway. Life was harsh these days, and expensive to say the least._

-Fuck me, man, what da fuck am I doin', bro?

« I'm just a buffalo soldier, in the heart of America » _was singing Marley. Hell, man, that was exactly what Leeroy was, in some way. He was more, like, the Cocaine solider but, well, that sounded less cool or involved in some shit, man !_

-Fuck this road man, fuck it, seriously, fuck this shit, bro.

_It seemed he didn't took enough drug today, as he was suddenly depressing. He changed the CD. Enough of Bob for today, some Peter Tosh would certainly make him feel better. There was still a long ride to overcome, and still dope to make pass through the states._


	3. Alinea 3 - Ruby

-You know, Rub', I really think this is not the right job for you, I mean… I mean, you're good at dancing plus, like, yeah… All the guys like you , y'know ? So..

-Yeah, sure, whatever. That doesn't fit with my goal, anyway. Plus I … I don't like this body, I don't fuckin' like it , ok ? So how can I… How would I do some money out of something I can't stand , Nikki, that's ridiculous !

-Well, that's quite simple, you know ? _her friend with a replied smirk._ All you have to do is to dance, and forget about those men .. well, you know what they do to a stripper, right ? Those hands…

-Stop, please, don't be too precise, God… Listen, why are you always talking about that, Nikki ? I love my job, even if it's not that well-paid, even if I work on hard conditions all day, even if I'm not famous or rich or whatever, or even looked at, I don't really care about that…

-Oh yeah ? You prefer to be alone for the rest of your life, waiting for your so-called knight in the shining armour that will never come ? Oh yeah, Ruby, that's much more intelligent, of course !

-Hey, I just want a family to live by and a home to live in ? Do I ask for too much there ? I… I just want a nice man, a nice house and some nice children, what is wrong with that ? Isn't it possible ?

-Of course that is, of course my dear. Oh, and you forgot about the nice car, the nice, always fresh and clean pool and the nice happy ever after ending.

-Oh stop it, Nikki, you know I hate sarcasm. I don't get this kind of humor, who does it make laugh, hah ? Seriously.

-I do like it, Rub', it's a good way to make some idiotic friends think different about their ideal of life. Anyway, you know the American dream is all a lie, don't you ?

-I know, o.k ? I know, Jesus ! I wish it was true but, y'know.. I'm aware it's all a dream and a filthy lie and nothing more than bullshit ! But still…

-Those kind of dreams , you… you can only achieve them when you're rich enough for it, gurl. And both you and I know your paper delivery job isn't gonna buy you your happiness, never, Rub', never. And that's why you have to think about the stripper thing twice, dear, I can assure you you're gonna make lots of money AND gonna be able to purchase your dream life after all this bullshit you came through.

-Oh come on ! I was waiting for you to come back on it, Nikki ! I told you, more than a thousand times, that I don't. Want. This. What aren't you getting in that, gal ?

-I don't get it all, Ruby ! You're losing your precious time, youth and beauty here, while you could be anywhere else, earning your fuckin' life out and be fuckin' married and have all what you desire whenever you desire it ! You could have your fuckin' dream of a family and stuff, Rub !

-I just can't be a stripper AND married, Nikki, this is fuckin' impossible, and you know that, because no one could do that ! And you… Have you though about that as you were planning my fuckin' future ?

-Well, actually, I'm pretty sure you…

-Oh no you can't ! Or if you can, well, prepare yourself ! You're gonna be a fuckin' slut or some shit for the rest or your lifetime, not to mention that you're gonna be a part-time cheater ! Yeah, you're right, Nikki, that's great !

-Actually, I'm quite sure you can be.

-I'm not and you have zero fuckin' arguments to prove me wrong, 'Ki .

-What do you want then ? Be a normal wife, with a normal and fuckin' boring life ? Go then ! What do you think your husband will do, hah ? And what about your sweet children ? You think everything gonna be O.k ? I'll tell you what's gonna happen, Rub', your husband will fuckin' cheat on you every bloody fuckin' day, you'll be a depressed householder and your kids ? They're gonna smoke shitty kusch and do nothing of their life ! That's right, Ruby, that's what the American dream is all about in REAL LIFE ! _shouted her friend out of anger. _

-My family ISN'T like that, Nikki !

-Are you from Liberty, Ruby ? No you're not ! You're a fuckin' Puertorican, how could you know how life's about here, hah ? Wake up, Rub' ! I don't want you to do the same mistake too many of my friends already did ! How many friends I warned and tried to help ! But you all have the same fuckin' answer ! There is nothing to compare with Porto Rico, here, Rub', nothing ! The life there isn't the same, the fuckin'. Same. Wake up, girl, wake fuckin' up.

-But, I ! … You know what, Nikki ? Leave, take this bloody door right now. I need… some time… To think, ok ? Y'know, clean up my mind.

-As you want, gurl…

_Nikki took her ass of the sofa, grabbed her purse and left. The house was suddenly emptied, yet calmer. Ruby took a nice glass of cold milk as she was looking outside. The rain was starting to fall, how depressing. How she wished she came back to her parent's house, sometimes, back in Puerto Rico. True, her life wasn't following the path she traced for it and was a real mess, nothing like she wanted it to be. It was also true the dream she was running after was nothing else than a gag, an outrageous lie thrown at the entire world's face. _

_She came in Liberty City for that lie, indeed. It was a real and stupid youth mistake but still, she had at leat a place to call her own home, whatever this place looked like. In fact it wasn't clean, warm or even comfy at all, the decoration was clearly nonexistant and the hole thing had no personality. Well, it wasn't really a home like she would have imagine it, either. None of what happened since her arrival was something she would imagine, anyway. Sure, there was the milkman, sure, there was her job and her boss, but she didn't stood a chance with that guy and her boss was just a lazy bastard who didn't understand when whe came late to give him back the bike because of some nice customers who occasionally gave her a coffee or chatted a bit with her, somehow it was rather normal to be angry with it, after all, but she made her job right, even if she was late sometimes, right ? Well, her boss didn't agree with her at that point, she guessed._

_Her phone rang. She took it and checked her messages. It was Nikki._

« Call me if Ur depressed, O.k ? »

« O.K » _she typed mechanically. She was about to sen dit, but finally deleted her previous answer._

« Please come back, Nikki, I made up my mind, I think we have to talk about this job you want me to do once again, girl. »


End file.
